BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
